Sister of doomed teen speaks for first time since yacht tragedy

The sister of Hannah Lynch who died on a superyacht after it was struck by a mini-tornado has spoken out for the first time.

The sister of doomed teen Hannah Lynch, who died on a superyacht after it was struck by a mini-tornado, has spoken out for the first time.

Tributes continue to pour in for victims of the sunken 56m yacht, the Bayesian, which went under following a wild weather event on Monday. Among the victims are the yacht’s owner, UK tech billionaire Mike Lynch, and his daughter Hannah.

Mr Lynch, once dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates”, had invited friends and family onto the boat in Italy to celebrate his recent acquittal in a massive US fraud case.

But the $58 million yacht was struck by something akin to a mini-tornado before dawn on Monday as it was anchored off Porticello, near Palermo.

Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah died on a superyacht last week after it was struck by a mini-tornado.

Mr Lynch and his daughter were among six bodies recovered from the wreckage. The 18-year-old was the last person unaccounted-for with the body of Mr Lynch and four others recovered by rescue divers on Thursday.

Fifteen people were rescued, including Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, a mother with her one-year-old baby, and New Zealand captain James Cutfield who is recovering in hospital.

Hannah’s sister Esme has spoken out for the first time since the tragedy, remembering her younger sister as her “little angel”.

“Sometimes beaming with a smile, sometimes cheeky, sometimes for advice,” she said in a statement.

The body of Mr Lynch, 59, was found on Thursday and that of his daughter, Hannah, on Friday.

“No matter what, she brought boundless love to me. She was endlessly caring, passionately mad, unintentionally hilarious and the most amazing, supportive and joyful sister and best friend to me.

“And on top of all this, she had even more love to give endlessly to all her friends and passion to give to her incredible studies and goals. She is my little angel, my star.”

Friends also paid tribute to Mr Lynch, who helped pioneer a form of artificial intelligence, describing him as a pioneer of the British tech scene.

“Mike was the most brilliant mind and caring person I have ever known,” friend Andrew Kanter said.

“There is simply no other UK technology entrepreneur of our generation who has had such an impact on so many people.

Mr Lynch had invited friends and family onto the boat in Italy to celebrate his recent acquittal in a massive US fraud case. Picture: AFP

“His passion for life, knowledge and all those around him was instantly inspiring to everyone he met, and he will be sorely missed.”

The Lynch family have said they are “devastated” and “in shock” but are being “comforted and supported by family and friends”.

Sky News reported a spokesperson for the family said in a statement on Friday that the Lynch family is “devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends”.

“Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy. They would like to sincerely thank the Italian coastguard, emergency services and all those who helped in the rescue. Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief.”

Hannah was just 18 years old.

Sicilian prosecutors said Saturday they were investigating possible manslaughter as it emerged that trapped passengers scrambled for air pockets after it went down.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Termini Imerese has registered a file with the state against unknown persons, hypothesising the crimes of negligent shipwreck and multiple negligent manslaughter,” state prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio told reporters on the Italian island.

But he said he was only announcing the probe due to the huge international interest in the case, stressing: “We are only in the initial phase of the investigations.

“At this stage, precisely because the investigation could develop in any way, we are absolutely not ruling anything out.”

People hug each other on the pier of Porticello near Palermo, on August 22 three days after the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank. Picture: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

How the ship went under is being pieced together by investigators, with Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra of the fire service telling reporters it sank by its stern and came to rest on its right side on the sea bed, some 50m.

He said the passengers trapped inside “took refuge to seek safety in the cabins on the left side where somehow the last air bubbles formed”.

“We found the first five bodies in the first cabin on the left side, and the last body in the third cabin on the left side.”

‘Human error’

Italian Sea Group, Giovanni Cotantino said ‘human error’ is to blame for the tragedy.

The firm that built the superyacht said “human error” is to blame.

Last Thursday, the head of Italian Sea Group, Giovanni Cotantino, said the tragedy could have been avoided after the $58 million ship capsized in a water spout.

“Everything that was done reveals a very long summation of errors,” Mr Costantino said.

The company, which includes the Perini Navi company, built the luxury 56-metre yacht in 2008.

New Zealand captain James Cutfield, who survived the tragedy, was questioned for several hours by authorities as an investigation into what happened has been launched.

Mr Costantino told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper that bad weather was forecast and all the passengers should have been gathered at a pre-arranged assembly point, with all the doors and hatches closed.

He claimed the Bayesian was “one of the safest boats in the world” and was virtually “unsinkable”, telling Italian publication Corriere della Sera: “The passengers reported something absurd, that the storm came unexpectedly, suddenly. That is not true. Everything was predictable.”

Captain grilled

Prosecutors, who have been interviewing survivors from the tragedy, questioned captain James Cutfield for several hours about the disaster, Giornale Di Sicilia reported.

The 51-year-old, who managed to escape from the vessel, told Italian media, “We just didn’t see it coming”, when speaking of the abrupt nature of the water spout.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Cutfield.

– with AFP